Opening the door to new opportunities

Yes, its been a long time since I wrote a blog entry. I feel very guilty because lots have happened since my last entry and I haven’t shared it yet.

The last two weeks have been quite eventful. After Mpho and I finished our internship at Rand Merchant Bank, it was back to square one. But luckily I received a call from my supervisors at RMB saying they need me to help with some projects within the Change and Communications Team. So my contract got extended until December.

Since then things have been going very well. The project I am doing will start taking shape this week. I’m doing research at the moment and also little odds and ends which have to be finalised so I’m keeping quite busy. I’ve settled in quite nicely at RMB and have made many friends already. That’s the best part of working here. Last Saturday we had a “Christmas in July” party at my boss Michele’s house. It was great to socialise with my colleagues outside the office. It gives the opportunity to get to know them on a more personal level.

I will definitely blog on my future experiences at RMB so watch this space. After reading Lesley Emanuel’s blog on our yahoo group mails about showcasing our employability, it made me realise how important it is to show your employability and using the opportunities we gain to the full. We’ve heard about networking and employability throughout the World of Work 2006 Programme and it was hard to understand it at that moment because hardly any of us ever experienced it seeing that we were recent graduates. The hard work has paid off and its not only my foot that’s in the door anymore, now I’ve got the opportunity to open the door wide and look for other doors to open.

Taking leave

I am officially taking my first ever leave from work on Thursday and Friday. Its great to know I’ve been working here for only three months and I already accumulated some leave. Long weekend here I come!

This past week has been a little bit slow at the office. Our supervisors were gone for a while so we were left to do some extra tasks, but we finished them in record time and had nothing to do the rest of the day. But its nice to have some time to do some internet browsing and networking with people within RMB. I had coffee with some of the Economists here at RMB on Monday and they gave great advice as to what directions I can head in with my qualifications and interests. And after our chat I felt ready to tackle the student world again. I have considered the possibility of not getting a decent job opportunity in the near future. Thus I have decided if this had to happen, I will continue with my MA next year. When I think about it I get quite excited because I have some topics of interest that I would love to write a dissertation on. I’m not sure what course I would take but the decision is still in the pipe line and is still being considered.

I spoke to Pascalia, a fellow World of Work Training colleague, the other day. She is working at Nedlac and from the sounds of her blog she is having a super time. Our conversation was very brief but it was great to hear from her. Mpho has heard from Yoliswa, and things are also going well there at the AICC. I’m still wondering how things are going with Zanele at De Beers. It’s a great company to work for so I’m sure things are going according to plan.

My time is quickly running out and I cannot believe that 3 months will be over next week. It felt like years ago that we were all sitting in the post-grad room at Wits having our coffees and good conversations. The training has definitely been of great help to me in the working world and I would certainly recommend it to other students. It has opened many doors for me and I have met so many wonderful people through my internship at RMB.